Foreign policy disater 06-02-98

Paul E. Erdman

A foreign policy disaster in Asia

By Paul E. Erdman, CBS MarketWatch 6/2/98 8:00:00 PM

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- What's happening in Asia, from Pakistan to India to China to Korea, represents a foreign policy calamity of immense proportions, the biggest disaster of the Clinton presidency.

As you know, stability in South Asia began to unravel when India "surprised" the world by testing nuclear devices. Pakistan did the same in response. Now China is saying that in the face of this, it may have to resume testing.

And as America's influence wanes in Asia, President Kim of South Korea is telling us that we should end our sanctions against North Korea. That they are standing in the way of peace. Never mind that we have tens of thousands of American troops on the ground there to protect South Korea from the Communist hardliners in the North.

This chain of events didn't have to occur. It could have been stopped at the source. When the Bharatiya Janata Party assumed power in India as the result of the recent elections, it had to be known in Washington that its leaders had long and consistently stated that they intended to make India a nuclear power.

What should have happened is that the CIA made sure that every red light in Washington was turned on when the election results became known, which should have then led to a full court press on India by the Clinton administration.

CIA absent

The CIA's failure to do so was not due to lack of information about the state of nuclear technology in India, the activity at the test site, etc. It was a failure of analysis. The last time we had a failure of analysis of this magnitude came in the late 1980's when our intelligence community was caught totally by surprise when the Soviet Union began to unravel.

The State Department is equally guilty. When Secretary of State Madeleine Albright heard the news of the Indian test, she was in Luxembourg cementing our relations with that great power. The Defense Department was busy planning a NATO exercise in Albania !!

But in the end, it is the commander in chief who has failed. President Clinton has relegated foreign policy to second rate personnel. It's time that he finally take charge and bring in someone of the stature of a Henry Kissinger or George Schultz before we lose our influence in Asia entirely.

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